I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to read head mounting structures, and more particularly to a read head mounting structure for a magnetic card reader in which the level position of the magnetic card read head can be adjusted according to the location of the assigned track of the magnetic cards to read.
Magnetic card reader is a device for reading data from magnetic cards. A magnetic card generally has three different magnetic tracks for recording different data. Users may assign either one of the three tracks for recording. The read head of a magnetic card reader must be fastened at a position corresponding to the location of the assigned track of the magnetic cards to read. In regular magnetic card readers, the position of a read head is permanently fixed and can not be changed for reading different magnetic track. Therefore, a magnetic card reader can only be used for reading one type of magnetic cards, and different magnetic card reader shall be required for reading the magnetic cards of different assigned track.
II. Brief Description of Prior Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a type of read head mounting structure for a magnetic card reader according to the prior art, in which the base (A) comprises two raised portions (C) having each a bolt hole (B) thereon respectively for mounting a fastening member (D) by screw means permitting the pin (E) of each fastening member (D) to secure a plate spring (F) to the base (A) so as to firmly retain a read head (H) in the window (G) with its front reading end projecting in the magnetic card feed slot (I) for reading magnetic cards. In this structure, the read head (H) is fixedly secured to the plate spring (F) through welding connection, and the plate spring (F) is secured to the base (A) by the pins (E) of the fastening members (D) which pins (E) are respectively inserted through the two mounting holes (J) at the two opposite ends of the plate spring (F). One disadvantage of this structure is its complicated read head mounting process. Another disadvantage of this structure is that the position of the read head is not adjustable since it is fixedly secured to the plate spring through welding process.